Western civilisation is a powerful brand, and full of accepted wisdoms like these that we rarely question. Taking cues from Greek philosophy and honed in the Enlightenment, certain notions about humanity and society grew into the tenets many of us still live by today.
But if we take a closer look at these ideas, it seems they are not all they are cracked up to be. In fact, some of them are outright lies - and we can start to ask who really benefits from them. What is the value of a scientific worldview that conjured up 'race'? Are the Western concepts of 'saving' and 'wasting' time really the best ways to live? Who are our laws actually designed to serve? And the real question: is the West as civilised as it likes to think it is?
In this episode, Rebecca Rideal chats to Subhadra Das about writing history, working with troubling museum collections and Das’s critically acclaimed new book. Uncivilised: 10 Lies that Made the West.
Uncivilised: Ten Lies that Made the West